In recent years a migration is taking place from simple non-connected light sources towards systems of inter-connected light sources (luminaires) that communicate with each other and with external systems, e.g. over a network. For retrofit applications, e.g. in office buildings or for retrofitting existing street lights, it is beneficial that a wireless network is used for this communication. For this purpose, each luminaire is equipped with a wireless communication module, e.g. a wireless node. This avoids the need for drawing network cables between the luminaires. In order to compose groups of luminaires that communicate with each other over such a wireless network, a commissioning process may be required in which each luminaire is configured through its wireless communication module to provide the luminaire with the knowledge to which group it belongs.
In order to perform such commissioning, a temporary connection must be made with each luminaire in order to open a network, add luminaires to a network and finally close the network. After this, often some further configuration of luminaires may be required, such as configuration of sensor properties and/or reactions to it. This process is sometimes simply called configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 0,107,888 discloses a luminaire after an optical receiver in such a way a remote control with an optical pointer can trigger an RF interface the luminaire in such a way to control this luminaire and not another luminaire in the same RF range.
In cases where the luminaire is a standalone fixture, only the configuration step may be necessary. An example of such a case is a light point which is controlled using a point-to-point wireless connection such as Bluetooth.
One interesting example of such luminaire configuration is the unlocking of features that are already present in the hardware and software of the wireless communication module, but only become active once the customer has paid the appropriate subscription or activation fee. Such ‘feature unlocking’ should be done in a secure way in order to safeguards investments. The same is true for updates of the software over the air. In both scenarios the installer may need to establish a connection to a particular luminaire in an environment where multiple luminaires may be in reach of the wireless connection, such that it is necessary to select the appropriate luminaire for wirelessly communicating with.
An example of such a selection method is for example disclosed in FIG. 3 of US 2013/0342111 A1, where a method of providing user control of an environmental parameter of a structure such as a light fixture is disclosed. The method includes establishing a light-based direct communication link between a user device and a fixture located within the structure, the fixture identifying itself by a wireless first communication link, e.g. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, to the user device by sending a broadcast/multicast message, the user device using this identification to send control information to the fixture using the first communication link.
However, such a selection mechanism has security concerns because even although the triggering of the communication is made by the user device, the broadcasting of the luminaire can be received by other devices, which may trigger such other devices to eaves drop for example. Therefore, this mechanism is unsuitable in situations where it may be necessary to ensure that the connection cannot be tampered with, e.g. outdoor situations.